I felt a goofy grin on my face. Jade staring at me… I could get used to that.
We finished up, separated the trash, and slipped out the door.
“Wow, it's hot,” Jonesy said.
“No, it's just that they had the air conditioning in there set on frigid,” Jade said.
The Js and I looked at each other.
“It was perfect in there,” John said.
I nodded.
“Well, I get cold easy and they had the air on and I was eating ice cream,” Jade said giving us a face, see my logic?
We didn't.
It felt like a raging inferno out here and decent in the ice cream shop.
We shrugged, girls.
The Js took off toward their houses, and I got Jade back to hers. On her porch, I leaned in for a quick kiss. Actually, I let my mouth linger on hers just a little bit, then I took off for my place.
Riding up to the front door, I saw Onyx with his nose pressed to the narrow window, tail wagging.
The Boy has returned and made the good word smells in my head. The Dog wagged his tail harder.
I tore open the door and closed it quietly behind me. I gave Onyx's head a good rub. Then, I headed to the kitchen, Onyx on my heels. Mom and Dad were sitting at the table
Thunk, wag-wag.
“Whatcha doing, Parental Units?” I snagged a peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookie.
“Hey,” Mom said, “those haven't cooled for the jar.”
I paused, cookie halfway to my mouth. “Okay and that makes what sense? Does it matter if I take it from the plate before it goes into the jar or after it's cooled and in it?”
“I like the cookies to cool first,” she said. “Then, I've got more cookies to put in the jar. There are less cookies when you vacuum them off the plate before I can put them in their proper place.”
Weird Mom-logic.
I sat there with the cookie in my hand.
“Ugh! Just eat it, but no more.”
Dad grabbed one off the plate. Mom glared at him, but he was spared the cookie-jar speech. She opened the fat blue chef cookie jar and carefully placed the remaining cookies inside. She sprinkled bread crumbs from the ass end of a bread loaf too. Freshness.
I snickered.
Dad raised his brows, his lips twitching. “So what did you and the LeClerc girl do tonight?”
I swallowed my bite of cookie.
“We went to the ice cream shop.”
“On East Hill? Terhune's?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“I liked it when it was Baskin-Robbins,” Mom said.
“Remember Shakey's Pizza?” Dad asked with a wistful not in his voice.
Mom nodded. “Those were the days—all you can eat and we'd just walk over there from KM.”
“Mom, that's a school for derelicts now.”
“Caleb. You understand 'diversified' is more appropriate.”
“Yeah. But derelict sounds cooler.”
“It depends on who's listening, I suppose. I'll admit it's a great adjective,” Mom said.
Was Mom conceding my victory on a non-politically correct word? Or a misappropriated word?
“KM is vo-tech. now, right?” Dad asked Mom.
“Yes.”
“Well, pal, I guess you won't have to worry about the 'derelicts' as you'll be attending KPH.”
Mom frowned. I thought Dad secretly liked my use of spontaneous language.
After supper, I ran upstairs to my clean room. I had saved a cheeseburger chunk in my pocket. It was squished, and the ketchup and mayo were oozing out.
It looked bad.
Onyx wagged his tail.
The Dog smelled something delicious from the Boy.
I shrugged. I was betting the looks wouldn't matter. I was right. He inhaled it.
I laughed. “Was that good, boy? Did you even taste it?”
I fell asleep with a book on my chest and Onyx on the foot of my bed. He'd ignored the spot I had made for him. That was the way I liked it.
CHAPTER 28
On Monday, all the kids milled around in the commons, waiting to hear their high school assignments. Brett was the big topic of conversation as he was a mundane like Jonesy but wasn't going to Kent Lake High. If we were really lucky he'd go to KM—derelict central. He'd fit right in. Of course, there were the inevitable transfers. Some kids’ powers were latent, and they had to be reassigned.
Tiff strolled over. She wore a flaming-red hoodie pulled halfway down her face and skin-tight black jeans with black tennis shoes. “It's a good thing you figured out a hidey-hole for our coolness. Otherwise, we'd be exposed to... the man.”
“What?” Jonesy asked, baffled.
Tiff did a hard eye-roll. “Sort of a doofus, arentcha?”
“Hey!” John huffed. He and I could call Jonesy any number of names, but no one else could.
“Whatever.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Are we still on for the haunted thing?”
Jonesy shrugged. “Well, that depends on your behavior. If you treat me good, then you can come.”
John and I nodded. We couldn't accept any dissing from the females.
“I think Tiff is just tired of explaining all her comments,” Sophie said in a sage drawl.
“Be clearer,” I said. “ 'The man'? Who the hell is that?”
“The man is our government,” Tiff said.
Jonesy blinked. “If you say so. Anyway, we've got a place now—”
“That Brett and Carson know about,” Jade added.
“Yeah,” John said dejectedly.
“And the man isn't going to find it,” I said.
“What if Brett and Carson lead them to our new spot?” Sophie asked.
“It's okay. Between my skills and Team Dead, we'll be okay,” Jonesy said.
“Your skills? What skills?” Tiff asked. She murdered the silence with a popping bubble and the group flinched.
“Hey, I'm the one who comes up with the ideas, plans, and other cool stuff to entertain everyone,” Jonesy said.
“Mostly, you just get us into trouble,” Jade said.
Jonesy spread his palms out, eyes buggy. “But it's a helluva lot of fun!”
The secretary's voice came over the pulse speaker. “Eighth grade students, get in line according to your last name.”
We walked to our respective lines. Carson came out of nowhere and joined my line.
“Hey, Carson,” I said, feeling the waters.
“Don't talk to me, Hart, ya freak.”
“You too,” I said with a grin.
Carson glared at me. I turned away from him, I could blow him off.
Jade and Sophie were in line B, and John and Tiff were in line C. I caught sight of Brett a few people behind Jade. My heart raced. He saw me notice him and reached to touch Jade's hair. Sophie was talking to Jade, and her eyes widened. Jade saw her reaction and turned, so his hand brushed her face instead of her hair. Jade cringed, stepping back.
I left my line and strode over to Brett.
“Don't touch her.”
Brett smirked. “Gets you all fired up, Hart?”
“Need another zombie lesson, Brett?” I asked in a fierce whisper.
His eyes narrowed. “Ya know, someday, you're not gonna have Jonesy or one of your freak zombies around to save your ass, then what? Huh? She lives by me, and you're not always around.”
He looked at Jade. “Yeah, you're a freak like your boyfriend here. It's okay if you know what I think, though. More than okay.”
He smiled at her.
Jade shuddered, and I put my arm around her.
Ms. Griswold strode up, arms pumping stoutly by her sides. “Hart, Mason...problem here?” she asked, her nasal voice shredding my eardrums.
“No problem,” Brett responded.
Right.
“Mr. Hart, aren't you in the wrong line?”
“Ah…” I looked around, playing dumb. “I don't know.”
“I think you do. Get going.”
She swung her clipboard to indicate my line. “Over there.”
She waited while I gave Jade a squeeze, crossing her arms over her ample chest and tapping her foot. I reentered my line where I had been.
It went on for kilometers, but I finally received my ticket.
Kent Paranormal High. Appear for registration on September 2, 2025, between 7- 8 a.m. for class roster.
Jonesy got Kent Lake High, but there was an addendum attached.
Secondary Aptitude Testing for Paranormal abilities will be administered within the first two weeks of instruction.
John said, “There must be kids slipping notice.” At our questioning looks, he continued, “There are kids who don't follow a puberty timeline. We're not all following the same schedule, y'know.”
“I thought the AP Tests picked up on that,” I said.
“They do, but it's not an exact science.”
Jonesy jumped around as if his feet were on fire. “Ya think I may ping later? Hot damn!”
John sighed. “I didn't say you. I've heard there have been a few kids who manifest later than the AP Testing.”
“Weren't the drug companies promising—” Sophie started.
Jade interrupted. “Yeah. That everyone would manifest an ability by a certain time.”
We'd all heard the same spiel. It was straight out of their pulsemercials.
“That's what they thought, but we're human beings,” John said. “Individuals.”
“What John's saying is we're all alike, but not exactly alike. The drug companies put us in the same box, and some don't fit,” I said.
“Generalizing the population,” John restated.
“So I may ping the test?” Jonesy asked again.
John threw up his hands. “I don't know! They'll see if you join us freaks at KPH.”
“Nice. I knew I'd have extra skills.”
“I thought you already had skills,” Tiff said, one eyebrow cocked.
“Yeah, I do, I said extra.”
“Whatever,” Tiff said, exasperated.
Sophie's cheeks had a faint blush as she and Jade walked off to their class. Maybe she was diggin' on the Jonester.
“Hey!” I called.
Jade turned. I jogged over and pulled her in for a hug. I slyly looked for adult radar then gave her a nice one right on that luscious mouth of hers.
“Miss ya,” I whispered, looking into the green pools of her eyes.
“Me too.”
“Give me a break!” Jonesy said. “You guys will live until the end of the day.”
I glared at him. “The question that you should ask yourself is whether you'll live.”
Jonesy ran down the hall. Breaking away from Jade, I raced after him. John trailed behind, laughing.
CHAPTER 29
Finally, Friday arrived. It was an easy day, just field games and a picnic. The last one out of the room, I was gathering my stuff from my final class, when the Js came over to my desk.
I raised my desktop to get a pencil that had rolled to the back. John leaned over to look, and the frizz of his hair speared my nose.
“Ah… choo!” I blasted the inside of my desk.
“Hey!” John yelped, jerking his head up and hitting the table top on his way.
“Ouch! That hurt like a bitch,” John muttered, rubbing his head.
“Nice, Terran,” Jonesy said, his eyes rolling to indicate adult radar had noticed his colorful wording.
Just short of wiping my nose on my sleeve, I spied the tissue box on Ms. Rodriguez's desk. I went over and grabbed a couple of tissues, then blew my nose. As I turned around, I noticed Ms. Rodriguez standing inside the doorway. She was dressed very summery with stiletto heels, a tight white skirt and a pale yellow blouse. A lacy cami in aqua flashed (a cleavage-hider, that). Her dark hair flowed around a face that was... angry.
“You know very well the rules of decorum in this classroom, Mr. Terran.”
John jumped and spun around to face her. “Y-y-yes, Ms. Rodriguez.”
“No vulgar language, understood?” She arched a perfect raven’s wing eyebrow.
John nodded.
This was priceless, Terran was the least likely of the three of us to curse. Loving it.
Ms. Rodriguez turned her attention to us and I dry swallowed.
Jonesy looked ready to crawl up his own ass.
Rodriguez narrowed her eyes at me. “Mr. Hart, would you”—she pointed a white, french-tipped nail at my desk—“gather your garbage, please?” She indicated the trash separator beside her desk.
Sighing, I lumbered back over to my desk. Jonesy looked as though he had been struck between the eyes with a hammer.
John slid one lanky arm into my desk and pulled out a colorful ball.
“A Hacky Sack!” Jonesy chortled.
“A what?” John asked.
“See? You're not so smart.”
“Give it,” I said. “It's my dad's.”
“I want a demo, Hart,” Jonesy said.
“Boys!” Ms Rodriguez called.
I whispered, “Later.”
“Okay.” Jonesy tossed the Hacky Sack to me.
I stuffed the bag in my jeans pocket, where it made a disturbing bulge.
“Hey, Caleb,” Jonesy said, “You may want to put that in your back pocket.”
“Right,” John agreed.
I stuffed it in the back, remedying the three testicle look.
“Better,” John said.
We went back to work, John using two pencils to excavate an unknown something.
It was slimy and gray... no, black. Sick. And not in a good way.
“Caleb, that is truly disgusting,” Jonesy said, awed.
“What is it?” John said eyeballing it.
“I don't know.”
“I want to see,” Jonesy said, leaning forward, giving it an experimental whiff; then he made a barfing noise, running over to the bin labeled Compost and heaved his breakfast into it.
Ms. Rodriguez left the room, squealing in disgust.
“That solves it, definitely a food item,” John deduced.
From the well of the compost bin Jonesy echoed, “Banana!”
“Thanks for clearin' that up!”
John walked it over to the compost bin, giving it a proper burial.
“I'm going to the bathroom and rinse my mouth out,” Jonesy said.
“Please,” John said.
“Thanks for figuring that out. I'll sleep better tonight, now that the mystery is solved.”
Jonesy waggled his brows. “Look at how I got rid of Rodriguez, huh?”
That was true.
Jonesy walked out, John and I scooping out the remaining stuff.
John said, “How can anyone get three English texts in here? You should be using your pulse-text.”
“I just like holding the real book.”
“Three of them?”
John stacked them in his arms, placing them on the bookshelf. We hardly used textbooks, everything was pulse this and pulse that. On top were the dedicated pulse readers, all English.
Jonesy returned from the bathroom as we were leaving. “They're already playing baseball out in the field,”
“What are we waiting for?” I asked.
All of us tore out of there like our asses were on fire.
***
My belly was full of hot dogs, chips, and chocolate milk. During the baseball game, Jonesy had got a homerun, but John had only made it to first base once, tripping on the way there. I had been busy staring at Jade and gotten nailed on the shin by a bad pitch. My leg was throbbing in a distracting way.
“Look what I got,” Jonesy said, holding up a loose fan of Blow Pops.
He looked like one of those magicians who pulled coins from behind people’s ears. I grabbed a grape-flavored one. Mom would have a turtle if she caught me with sugar. Sugar was evil.
I thought it tasted pretty good.
Jade grabbed sour apple. Disgusting, but that wasn’t a surprise
since she did like licorice ice cream.
I glanced at Jade just as the sun slid behind a cloud, reducing the luster of her hair to shimmering black oil. She caught me looking at her and smiled.
Jonesy snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Snap out of it, Hart!”
I swatted his hand away. “What's the haunted plan tonight?
Jonesy smirked, “I think you can just show up and scare all the ghosts with that haircut your dad gave you.”
Jade gave me a sympathetic look.
I scrubbed a hand over the bristle and sighed. I narrowed my eyes at him. “How do you know my dad gave me a haircut?” I asked.
Jonesy laughed. “Are you really asking that question? Your dad always gives you the haircut.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Everyone nodded.
I folded my arms across my chest, talking around the sucker. “I doubt my hair is going to be enough to scare anyone or anything.”
“Caleb's right, what's the plan? I noticed it's Friday the thirteenth and nothing's happened,” John said.
“The day's young,” Jonesy said, brandishing his half-eaten lollipop. “There's plenty of crap that can still happen.” He eyed us. “So I'm thinkin' we should meet around eight at the cemetery then weasel over to the shack about ten.”
John nodded. “Maybe bringing my LEDs would be good.”
Jonesy huffed. “No. How is it gonna be creepy if you're wrecking it with LEDs? Think, my man!”
“He's got a point,” I said.
“It seems safer, though,” Jade hesitantly added.
“What could go wrong?” Jonesy asked.
Jade gave him an astonished look. “Ah... everything.” She bit into her sucker to reach the gum.
John stopped chewing long enough to say, “The gum loses flavor fast.”
“Yeah,” Jade and Jonesy said at the same time.
Jonesy grinned. The gum fell out of his mouth and plopped on the ground. “Ah, damn.”
After they walked off, I asked Jade, “Why don't you pulse Andrea and see if you can come to my house for dinner?”
“Okay.” She pulled out her pulse and was done in seconds. “It's okay. But did ya ask your parents?”
“Nah, my mom won't care. She'll think it's a vacation from the Js.”
We walked to my house, our fingers entwined. I was really getting used to having her next to me. When we got to my place, we went straight to the kitchen. I did it out of habit, and Jade just followed.
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